


Birthright

by Blue_Hood



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Maleficent (2014) Fusion, Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil as Found Family, F/M, Friendship, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Maleficent Dies, Marriage, Multi, Rare Pairings, Seelie & Unseelie, United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-05-15 14:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 17,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Rise of the new Fae Queen





	1. Sovereignty

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [To Kill A Dragon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16815406) by [PBWritesStuff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PBWritesStuff/pseuds/PBWritesStuff). 



> In To Kill a Dragon by PBWritesStuff, Jane declares Mal the second coming of the first Fae queen.  
> In TheHarleyQueen's What They Didn't Do, there's an explanation of the voting system for Isle Court, including the fact that Briar Rose, AKA Sleeping Beauty's family has the Moors' votes through Right of Conquest.  
> These stories were the basis for my vision of Mal as Fae Queen, I'm also using the movie's timeline with a bit of tweaking so that more VKs come after the Core Four.

After the Coronation, some of the royals had apologized about their treatment. Rather than the bland acceptance they expected, the royals were told off for allowing children to grow up on the Isle. Ben often intervened before the confrontations could get too nasty but admittedly, this only made the royals more curious. A dinner was arranged - _to clear the air_ \- so that the four VKs could tell their stories. None of the VKs bought Ben's line, seeing the dinner for the trap it was since they are by no means stupid. Before they joined Ben to drive to Castle Beast for the dinner, a few confessions were made  _I love you guys like family_ and the four resolved to be more than friends, found family Evie called it.

At the dinner, all four stood before the room full of royals to do so. Mal stood tall, projecting confidence none of them felt while Jay had one arm slung over either sister's shoulders. Between the two, they did what they always did and protected the other two. Carlos was half hiding between them with Evie on the other side. Fortunately, they knew each other well. Mal began by setting some ground rules _"W_ _e all know each other's stories, we know what is and isn't important for you to know. We're not here for your pity, we don't want it BUT if pity is what it takes to end the suffering of dozens, possibly hundreds of children," She shrugged "Then we'll take your pity. There will be times one of us will take over another's story, other times we'll jump over parts you don't need to know." She glanced at the other three, receiving nods before facing the room "We are not friends, we are not four random kids chosen by King Ben." Jay's hands dropped to grasp Evie and Carlos as Mal took the hand of the smallest VK, "We are family, though we weren't always this way."_ With that introduction, things went rather smoothly. All of the royal families were present, they would later learn, and many royals approached Ben to throw in their support for his proclamation before the night was over. The Core Four, as they were being called with the almost regular influx of Isle kids, knew the dinner went a long way to preventing problems down the line.

Standing with her friends, Mal watched other Isle kids mingle with Auradon kids. Suddenly, she felt her magic grow rapidly and doubled over in pain from her back. She felt like her clothes were suddenly too tight, like her bones might break and she couldn't breathe. She felt like she was going to implode or explode and she didn't know which was worse. Her siblings helplessly watched her suffer. Mentally berating himself for being useless, Carlos wanted to curl up while Evie wanted to cry. Throwing up his walls to keep from showing weakness, Jay nearly crossed his arms before he saw the horns sprouting and suddenly knew what was happening. Jumping into action, he ripped the back of her clothes to free her wings. As her wings broke free, the pain suddenly vanished and Mal was able to stand up. "I thought you couldn't grow wings because you were born behind the barrier," commented Carlos, trying to laugh off the terror.

"Wings?" Mal repeated "I have wings?" As if on cue, one of her raven-like wings moved forward. Turning, Mal smiled "I have wings!" Wings made one a true Faerie, she wasn't a freak anymore.

Hiding behind her compact and using primping as a defense mechanism, Evie asked "Why now? Not that they're not great but what caused them to grow like that." Pointing her compact at her sister, "You also have horns."

The dots connected themselves when she remembered her mother's defining traits. Mal gulped as the realization that her mother is dead hit her, setting off conflicting emotions. "I think I know what's happening." She started stalking towards Aurora and Phillip, "I am Maleficent Morgana the Second, daughter and rightful heir of the Fae Queen." She did not like this but she had to do it. Luckily, VKs can monologue with the best of them "You, Aurora Beauty, were given sovereignty of the Moorlands by my mother to end a war started by your grandfather and perpetuated when your father, King Stefan, cut off my mother's wings. As I assume you do not understand the severity of that act, allow me to explain. Wings for all Fae, Seelie like Madame Fairweather as well as Unseelie like myself, are a critical part of our anatomy. A Faerie without wings is no true Faerie at all. King Hubert attacked the Moorlands, my mother was just defending her kingdom when she fatally wounded an invading king. Your father was no hero and yet, you were able to inherit the Moorlands from my mother. You were made sovereign until such time as an heir was born. I am that heir and I ask you, will you relinquish my birthright?" When Aurora looked like she was going to refuse, Mal continued as if on a roll "I am Queen of the Fae and nothing you say will change that. You were given sovereignty on the belief that a human raised by Faeries would have the best interests of both at heart. As such, you are duty-bound to ensure my people are cared for. Have you faithfully fulfilled this duty?" Sharp eyes caught the princess glancing at her prince "Or have you merely acted as another's puppet? Have you ruled the Fae for others' benefit and at the pleasure of regular humans? If you have fulfilled your duty faithfully, I have no problem supporting your reign as my regent. I ask only that you tell the truth. Have your prioritized the Fae and ruled as a just queen or do you allow others to make the decisions?

Prince Phillip interrupted her by drawing his sword. Jay, who had followed along with Ben, grabbed the older man's arm and forced it upwards to keep the sword from doing harm. Mal smirked again "You allow humans to attack Fae unprovoked, I see. You clearly do not care for the Fae people. I ask now only that you do what is right, lest Right of Conquest be invoked as you have invoked it."

Aurora stood regally as she met Mal's eyes, declaring "I, Aurora Beauty, hereby relinquish sovereignty of the Moorlands to Maleficent Morgana the Second, solidifying her birthright claim."

Mal held up a hand in front of Aurora, drawing a white-yellow aura of power from the princess into a glowing ball above her hand as Jay released Prince Phillip's arm to let the royal catch his wife. "You didn't know, the Fae cannot be ruled by one who does not bear magic." Turning, Mal came face to face with Fairy Godmother, who's expression of reverence was off-putting "Madame Fairweather?"

The old fairy morphed from her human appearance to that shown in books detailing Cinderella's story. Her hair became slate grey, her wings phased out of their binds, her eyes glowed blue and she floated, just a little. The woman then bowed deeply to Mal "Merry met Queen of the Fae: Seelie and Unseelie, fair and fallen. You are the second coming of Titania and I pledge fealty to you."

Back where Mal's own transformation occurred, Belle asked "What is going on?"

Realizing she knew the answer, Evie said "Titania was the first queen of the Fae, sort of like their goddess. If Mal is the second coming, that means she is the rightful queen of all Fae, as Fairy Godmother said. Oh my god,"

Carlos turned to her "What?"

"Fairy Godmother. What Mal was saying about how Aurora was given sovereignty over the Fae, Maleficent must have been her Fairy Godmother."

"Really?" asked Adam, in a clearly disbelieving tone.

Evie shrugged "Just a thought."

Carlos had another one "Ben is High King of the humans and Mal is, like, High Queen of the Fae."

"Together they could provide balance, ending centuries of on and off war," finished Evie. They all looked over where Ben was clearly supporting Mal.

"Is Mal gonna have to learn to suppress her Fae, uh, her wings and horns?" asked Carlos.

"No," answered Adam "I doubt Ben would ask that and he's the king."

"This is the beginning of a new age," Evie said softly.


	2. Betrothed

The day after Fairy Godmother declared Mal the rightful Queen of the Fae, Faeries of all kind flocked to Castle Beast to swear fealty to her. Sitting on Belle's throne beside Ben, Mal smiled and returned the Fae greeting of Merry-met. The High Court would meet in a week to formally recognize Mal as Queen of the Moorlands, giving her the authority that Aurora held through Right of Conquest. At the moment, Mal was sitting wit Adam and Belle, gaping at them "Say again?"

Fairy Godmother stood next to her queen as Belle repeated "Now that you are Queen of the Fae and Ben is High King, we thought we should make your relationship official."

FGM explained "They're asking you to enter a betrothal."

Mal relaxed minutely, she was still getting used to having wings, "You are proposing on Ben's behalf?"

"Essentially," agreed Adam.

Mal hadn't exactly been raised on Fae traditions so she looked to FGM "Is this kind of thing common or acceptable within the Fae court?" Fae had to be specified because human royals had a bad habit of correcting otherwise.

"It is acceptable though I wouldn't say common, since Ben is human."

"About that," Mal looked between Adam and FGM, "How sure are you Ben didn't inherit any Beastly magic?"

FGM opened and closed her mouth a bit, "Actually, I can't say with complete certainty he didn't. If he does have some magic, even the residual magic of a familial curse, he would be a more acceptable match to present the Fae court."

Mal turned her attention back to Adam and Belle, "I have no issue with an engagement but I'd like to make it official with Ben before making an official betrothal agreement. Such a written agreement could be potentially leaked."

"Of course," Adam agreed "Perhaps we could announce it at the Council meeting."

"While we're on the subject, you heard me lecture Aurora on the duties of a Fae Queen. I'd like to read up on the magic limiting legislature and perhaps amend it to be more forgiving, a compromise between humans and Fae to ring in the beginning of a new era of peace between our people. I cannot very well scold Aurora for something and then do the same thing, that'd be hypocritical and improper."

"I understand but that will be for the Council to decide."

"Of course. I just need to read up on the laws before I can propose amendments."

"Naturally," agreed Belle. "That is a wonderful idea."

Before she left to return to her dorm, Mal collected the relevant legal text, which amounted to quite a few law books. Her siblings were waiting, she reiterated "Alright guys. I got all the written laws on magic here, we need to figure out what is in effect and try to find some wiggle room. I do not want to look like an idiot when I join the Council on behalf of the Moorlands."

"We know," said Jay as he picked up one of the law books.

They split the load, making notes on any laws they figured could be improved and simplified the terms of laws that Mal would need to know about as queen. The system was made when they had to sift through laws and rules, written and unwritten, to make a Guide to Auradon for other Isle kids; Doug, Lonnie, Ben and Jane helped on that project. The guide replaced student handbooks for Isle kids and had three editions based on reading level- one for dummies (medium level), one for geniuses (to avoid insulting their intelligence) and one with pictures (for those who couldn't read). Doug and Jane brought dinner up to them, the latter asking "Have you guys been in here all day?"

"Most of it, yeah," answered Carlos as he stood to help his girlfriend.

"What are you doing?" asked Doug.

"Working out what the law says about magic exactly," answered Mal as she took the offered plate. "I can't lecture Aurora about being a bad queen of the Moors then turn around and do the same thing." She looked up, noticed Lonnie slipping in and waved at her "Close the door, please." Once closed, she said "I need you guys to keep a secret from Ben."

"What is it?" asked Evie.

"Ben's parents asked me to enter a betrothal with him and I said yes, only on the condition we get to make it an actual engagement. I need to figure out how to propose before the Council meeting because that's when the betrothal's gonna be announced."

"Is that the only term for your betrothal?"

"No, I said I wouldn't put anything into writing until I make it official with Ben. I can set my terms when we write up the contract."

"What are your terms?"

"Um, I haven't thought that far."

Doug said "Well let's think about this. A betrothal is an arranged marriage, do the Fae have specific wedding traditions?"

"I actually know that one, yes. A proper Fae wedding would take place in the Moors," she looked around nervously "After all the magic restrictions and bad blood between our people, I don't think a lot of humans in the Moors is a good idea. Jane, your mom said Ben would be better accepted if he has residual magic from the Beast curse. Oh, by the way, Fairy Godmother and Ben's parents are the only ones outside this room who know."

"Alright so maybe two ceremonies?"

"I wonder if I need to present Ben to the Fae court to validate our engagement." Mal turned to Jane, "Do you know?"

"No but I bet my mother would."

"Of course, she's a member of the Seelie Court."

Jane looked surprised "She is?"

"Maybe not now but to be a Fairy Godmother, she'd have to be. I think, I don't know a lot about my own people. I'll have to ask about wedding and engagement traditions when I run all this," she waved to the books and notes spread inside the circle the Core Four formed, "by her. She knows more about our people than I do, even if she is Seelie to my Unseelie."

"Oh, there is one thing you might want to know, a Faerie mother will always give birth to a Faerie child. It's impossible for you to be a half-Faerie, no matter who your father is."

"That is interesting. Back on track, I need to talk to your mom about Fae traditions before I even propose."

"And you have to do the proposing because Ben shouldn't know about the betrothal." Carlos asked "How did you enter a betrothal on your own behalf?"

"I'm the Fae Queen, my mother is dead so there's no one to enter it on my behalf."

"Who are you gonna have walk you down the aisle if Ben's parents insist on a proper Auradon ceremony?"

"I don't know, probably Jay."

The teen in question looked at her, "Me?"

"Well yeah, I don't have a father and you're like my big brother."

"I'd be honored."

"We're not that far yet. Let's keep going on the books and we'll compare notes tomorrow to consolidate everything by the end of the week. But seriously, if there's no Fae tradition I have to uphold, how should I propose? Should I mention the betrothal?"

Evie said "Don't mention the betrothal but also don't leave Ben to find out at the Council meeting, propose and then find some time to explain things. If Ben's parents don't push him to propose first, that is."

"I really hope they let us have a proper proposal and don't tell him we have to get married, I don't want to surprise him with the betrothal at the end of the week but I also don't want it to seem like he has no choice."

"I understand."

Evie looked at Jane "Why don't we work on your proposal? You'll have input but you won't have to stress. You should ask Fairy Godmother about Fae traditions, if there's a certain kind of ring or if the Fae even use rings. We'll help you plan it all."

"Thanks guys. Is it weird I hope we do an Auradon ceremony and a separate smaller Fae ceremony? I mean, I like some of the Auradon traditions but I need Ben to be a proper King to my people and not like Prince Phillip." 

"No, it's not weird. I think it's nice," said Lonnie.

"You three are totally my bridesmaids, I mean I don't have a lot of friends much less girl friends."

"We should invite Dizzy to be the flower girl," suggested Evie.

"And maybe she could help plan the wedding. I'm sure Belle is gonna want to be part of her son's Auradonian ceremony, and Mrs. Potts. Ben's like a grandson to the old teapot."

"Of course."

"Let's just take things one step at a time. We'll work on the laws tonight, I'll talk to FGM tomorrow and plan the proposal."

Her friends nodded, Doug knelt down "Mind if we help with the reading?"

"No. We're looking for magic laws and laws regarding how this whole Queen on the Council thing works." The trio nodded then Jay and Carlos passed them some supplies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my birthday, I got all four Isle of the Lost books and I gotta say, the first book so far reminds me of a few fanfictions I've read, which makes sense since it's the prequel to the Descendants movie, I think. Anyway, this idea came to me not long after I posted the one-shot. I'm terrible at making one-shots standalones.


	3. Traditions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mal asks Fairy Godmother about Fae traditions

The seven Descendants wound up crashing on the floor. Carlos woke up first and began collecting the supplies, leaving the books his friends were using as pillows  
alone. Lonnie and Doug were next, the former coming from a militant background while the latter worked in the mines with his uncles to earn extra money. After they were up, Carlos lightly shook Jay awake who climbed to his knees to stretch before standing. Putting a finger to his lips for quiet, he guided the other three to the small table to compile the notes they could reach into one notebook, Jane and Mal having fallen asleep on their own notepads. With all of the notes written in one book, they began the process of eliminating outdated laws and organizing their notes. When Evie and Jane woke up, they quietly joined the four, leaving Mal to sleep. By the time she woke up, the only thing left to do was compare her notes to the key the others had compiled. Carlos picked up the room with Jane and left to get everyone breakfast with Lonnie just minutes before. Over breakfast, Doug read off the compiled list, which had years next to each item, to ensure everything was up to date. Jane volunteered to type their notes while the others continued studying. This system had served them well during their long weekends spent making three editions of their Islander's Guide to Auradon.

Mal said "Actually I need to borrow Jane and Evie for my talk with Fairy Godmother." They were still in transition time for the new Isle transfer students, which was something the Core Four hadn't had.

Lonnie said "No problem, I'll do the typing."

The purplette nodded and led the other two down to Fairy Godmother's office. "Hey, I have a few questions about Fae traditions."

"Ask away."

"You know about the betrothal, are there any traditions I need to know about regarding proposals?"

"Actually there are. Since you're the Queen, your intended needs to be approved by the Fae court."

"So I should postpone the announcement."

"Afraid so. In fact, I've already told Adam and Belle as much."

"Right. Does this mean I need to go to the Moors with Ben?"

"That would be wise after you've assembled your court, right now there are two separate courts- the Unseelie and the Seelie."

"Great. I still have this Council meeting at the end of the week and I was hoping to have everything all set but I'm sure things like the proposal can wait until next time. Are there any things I need to know right now about being Queen?"

"Please sit down, let me tell you all about our traditions so you'll be ready to present Ben to the court."

"Okay," Mal took a seat with Evie and Jane at the table behind her.

After giving a crash course on Fae traditions, Mrs. Fairweather said "To answer your original question, a proper Fae engagement gift is typically an heirloom bearing significance to the house of the presenter."

"But I don't have any heirlooms from my mother. Unless you mean like the Dragon Eye but that's locked in the museum, Ben would know if I got that out."

Fairy Godmother hummed, "Let me try to put something together."

As the girls left to return to the dorm, Mal said "Everything just got like a million times more complicated."

"At least you're the undisputed Queen of the Fae," commented Evie.

"Yeah, right."

Arriving at the dorm, Jay asked "How'd it go?"

"There are a lot of Fae traditions I knew nothing about. FGM said she'd tutor me so I'll be ready to head out to the Moors after the Council meeting. One of my duties as queen is to unite the Unseelie and Seelie courts, then I have to present my intended, Ben, and demonstrate why he's a good choice for King. Fortunately being High King with magic, in his case from a familial curse, works in his favor. Plus, like Jane said, a Faerie mother will always have a Faerie child, so it's not like his bloodline will produce an unfit heir. However, that might be a problem for the High Court since this means I cannot produce human heirs to be High King or High Queen."

"Oh, not good then," said Carlos.

"It went fine. We're still a-go for the Council meeting but I'm gonna have to take some time off to meet with the courts and decide who will be in my unified courts. Oh, and I'm not allowed to bring humans into the Moors. That's actually why Stefan's betrayal hit my mother so hard. She trusted him, even though Fae and humans have a long and bloody history, hence Aurora's duty to unite our people. This just added a whole new level of complicated. Fairy Godmother gave me the time off to see to my duties as queen, I just have to talk to Adam and Belle to make sure the betrothal is off, at least until I can convince my court to accept him. I am not looking forward to seeing how my people react to my choice."

"It's not like you had a lot of magic options."

"Well, Jay is half djinn, I think."

Jay said "Actually I was conceived before Aladdin's trick, that's why leaving the barrier didn't trigger my power."

"Right." Mal groaned, "This is so difficult."

"You didn't seem to think that when you were tricking Aurora into surrendering the Moors," Carlos pointed out.

"That's because my magic was guiding me then, the same way FGM's guided her into swearing fealty to the second coming of Titania."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's how I knew about the terms of her reign."

"Oh."

Mal moved off the bed onto the floor, "Let's just get this done so I can explain to Ben's family that I'm gonna be away for a while and ask Ben to wait. I'll tell him I'm preparing to present him to my court, which is true, and leave it at that."

"Alright."


	4. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Council meeting is finally here, after a week spent planning.

Fairy Godmother helped Evie design Mal's Fae Queen outfit, with a few spares for her trip to the Moors. She wore a deep purple cloak with a grass green dress, both carefully made to accommodate her wings. She had her hair combed back to allow her horns to take the place of a crown. She went without shoes, as fitting a Faerie. Everyone was assembled before Mal was invited in, Ben sitting at the end of the council room as High King. He smiled at her as he made the official proclamation naming her sovereign of the Moorlands with the votes on the Council that carried. Mal tucked her right hand behind her wing, coming back with a pulsating glowing green medallion, the casing for the orb was pitch black like the wings of Unseelie Fae while the chain was silvery to represent the Seelie Fae.

Ben stopped talking as he saw the gift and Mal smirked "It's a tradition Fae engagement gift, well it's not quite an engagement since I still have to get my court to approve you but as long as that happens, it is."

Ben reached out, "May I?"

"Careful, might be best if you grab it by the chain. The light silvery color represents the Seelie, or light Fae, while the medallion represents both my house and the Unseelie Fae. My mother was Unseelie and so am I, if you couldn't tell by the wings and the horns."

Ben carefully put the necklace on "Thank you."

"Like I said, this could fall through if the Fae decide you're unfit. Just, thought it'd be nice to make it official before I go straighten out my court."

Ben smiled "Still, thank you."

"Um,"

Queen Leah, surprisingly, bailed Mal out "How does the symbolism work? You said the chain represents one court, the medallion represents another and your house."

Mal turned away from Ben "Right. The chain is silver which is a light color, the Seelie are also called light fairies, Fairy Godmother and Tinker Bell, who is a pixie, fall into this category. I suppose being a light color, the chain could also represent Auradon. Black is a dark color, the Unseelie are also called dark fairies and that's what my mother is. Green simply comes from the color of our eyes when we use our magic, I asked Fairy Godmother and she wasn't sure what the symbols of the House Morgana are so I went with what I know. If the Fae accept Ben then," Mal cut herself off, changing the subject "Faerie mothers can only have Faerie children so any children Ben and I have would belong to the Fae first. This means succession would have to be altered since I can't have human children. I'll discuss it with the Fae court to see what they want to do. They have to accept Ben first and since he's mostly human, there is a pretty equal chance they will or won't."

Mal smirked "A good way to gain their acceptance would be to lessen the laws regarding magic. I have made a list of compromises based on studying current law, if I may propose them."

Ben said "Of course, take your seat Queen Maleficent."

"If it's all the same with everyone else, I'd like to use the name Mal to avoid confusion. We don't want a repeat of my first Family Day."

Leah agreed as Mal took her seat beside the queen. Ben returned to his seat, "The floor is yours, Queen Mal."

"Some creatures like the Fae are naturally magic. As a mermaid, Ariel's people fall into this category. The first compromise I propose is to legalize natural magic. I'm not talking about letting witches and succubae practice their craft at the expense of normal humans. What I am talking about is allowing natural born Fae to walk down the street with their wings out, mermaids to swim without being a spectacle. As I explained when I first staked my claim as Fae Queen, our wings are an integral part of our anatomy. What Stefan did was not a mercy but a grievous crime in the eyes of a Fae, he took something which made my mother a Faerie. I am not saying my mother is blameless in the story, I am simply asking that such a crime be treated as a crime. This is not permission to practice, this is a petition to let magic creatures be magic creatures and not force them to be human."

Leah complimented "Well said."

Ben agreed "Yes, I now open the floor for discussion."

Elsa asked "How do you define magical creatures?"

"Those with natural magic that affects the way their bodies work. Your ice magic is a natural part of who you are, denying that could potentially drive you mad." Elsa's smile clearly said thank you.

Snow asked "What about the dwarves?" smiling when all eyes turned on her.

"Dwarves are cousins to the goblins of the Isle so I'd say they count, though I'm not sure the law currently discriminates against them for being dwarves. The only thing I can think of as far as discrimination towards dwarves is the pay inequality and lack of benefits, which Ben has already addressed since becoming king." Her first proposal was passed after she clearly defined her terms, most of her proposals followed suit with a few exceptions. As the meeting drew to a close, Mal informed the court, "I will be leaving to meet with my people as soon as this meeting ends. I do not know how long I will be gone but I plan to present Ben to my court before returning. In case I am unavailable for a meeting, I hereby elect Madame Fairweather, better known as Fairy Godmother, to attend in my place." She'd choose Jane but Fairy Godmother knew more about the Fae, enabling her to act in their best interest.

The shift in Queen Leah made it abundantly clear that she had expected that honor to fall upon her house, which explained why she'd been so nice to Mal throughout the meeting. Hearing this declaration, Leah asked "How do we know you didn't enchant that engagement gift? You've been known to do that to King Ben."

"To be completely honest, Queen Leah of House Rosiers, a proper Fae engagement gift would typically take the form of an heirloom bearing significance to my house much like human royal or noble engagement gifts bears the house crest. As my mother left no such heirloom and Madame Fairweather has taken up the role of teaching me Fae traditions, which is a parent's duty, she made the medallion to be the closest approximation possible. If while I'm in the Moorlands, I discover my mother did have such an heirloom to pass down, I will replace the medallion with a more proper engagement gift. So, to answer your question, I only summoned the medallion. Fairy Godmother made it as a surrogate mother to me. Perhaps the silver bears some significance to the House Fairweather and she simply forgot to tell me such. If you don't believe me then you can ask Fairy Godmother yourself, Queen Leah."

"I see."


	5. Reception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet the Court.

After the meeting, Mal made a quick exit while taking care not to be rude to other royals who approached her. Elsa seemed to consider her an ally, which Mal expected given the rumors that the ice queen was nearly the villain of her story and the fact that Mal made reforms that gave the other woman more freedom to use her powers. Queen Leah had been put in her place when she dared accuse Mal, a fellow Council member, of such a serious crime as bewitching the High King. Leaving half an hour after the meeting, Mal travelled to the Moorlands, the wooded area bordered Auroria and Bayou De Orleans. Mal had done everything Madame Fairweather advised for her journey to the Fae. As the undisputed queen, she was welcomed warmly. Sitting upon her throne before all Fae nobility, Queen Mal spoke in clear, authoritative voice "As Queen of both the Unseelie and Seelie Fae, I will be assembling a unified court to deal with foreign matters. Each side of my court must take care to properly represent the Unseelie and Seelie respectively. I will meet with all members of the courts to ensure I chose the best representatives for my court. Will you all support my plan?"

All present Faeries nodded and Mal went on to relay the results of the most recent Auradonian High Court meeting, earning much favor from her elders. She then proposed Madame Fairweather be their ambassador, filling the Moors' High Council seat when the Fae Queen could not, riding the high from her successful proposals. With all pressing business taken care of, Queen Mal adjourned the meeting.

A reception line formed, first the male members of the Seelie court with their spouses came up to introduce themselves, starting with Praetor Landon of House Levi. As the line dwindled, women joined their male counterparts led by Praetor Zelda of House Mason. A brief respite followed before Chief Elektra of House Kingston led her half of the Unseelie Court. Just as before, when the line dwindled the other half of the court joined. The Seelie Court had praetors while the Unseelie used the term chief, which means essentially the same thing.

Mal noted that among the Seelie, there was nothing separating the court members from their spouses as far as attire. Members of the Unseelie Court, on the other hand, had their spouses wear leather collars with locks on them bearing the symbol the council members had on their forearms or wrists, their house symbol. During the procession of introductions, each one tucked away in her mind, the new Fae Queen realized the importance of the collars. The locks, which would look decorative on a dog collar, were functional. As long as the lock was closed, the collar wouldn't come off and there was no clear latch. The husbands of court members wore emerald collars while women wore scarlet collars, all with silvery locks hanging on a small ring with their house symbol in bronze.

Following the reception introductions, Mal was seated at the head table for dinner. On her right sat Chief Elektra with Mercer between her and Chief Xenos with his wife Blair sitting across from Magnus. On her left sat Praetor Landon, his wife Naomi and Praetor Zelda sat across from Xenos with her husband Magnus beside her. The Seelie Fae glared at the Unseelie Chiefs, occasionally shooting sympathetic glances at their spouses. Mercer and Blair seemed oblivious in an almost lovesick way that made Mal wonder if love potions had any place in Unseelie unions. During dinner, both sides attempted to have the other ejected from the table. Mal played peacemaker as proper for a queen to a divided people.

As they calmed down and stopped trying to turn her against the other side, she mentally listed off everyone she met, pairing them with their spouses. Total there were 20 pairs, she did not look forward to the weeks ahead. Navigating politics was not really her cup of tea but neither was dictatorship so she’d need people she could trust to do more than just obey her. She didn’t need suck-ups, she needed advisors. Then it occurred to Mal that, regardless of her future with Ben, she outranked almost everyone at school. They were all princes and princesses, she’d skipped a step and gone straight to queen.

During her head count, Mal had noticed that at other tables, the spouses of Unseelie court members knelt beside their better halves and were hand fed. At the Seelie table, the women sat in their husband's lap. Interesting, they were already learning to accept each other's ways. Mal planned to cut each court in half for her unified court. Since there was already an even gender split in each court, that could continue. Six men, three Seelie and Unseelie; the same with the six women. Elektra seemed a potential candidate for the first Unseelie chair, Landon and Zelda weren't so adaptable. Xenos was too proud so she'd need to consider her options. Even with Elektra, she'd have to make sure she wasn't being played. Perhaps a test was in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, Ben meets the Court


	6. Intended

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben meets the court

Elektra and Mercer showed their queen to her home, the former chatting her up. Mal was amazed by the labyrinth beneath the Moorlands, a layered subterranean city within an enchanted forest. A whole city, just like villages above ground. After leaving the Seelie Fae above ground, Mercer got down on his knees and Elektra conjured a leash to attach to his collar. Looking around after they left her at her door, Mal saw many Fae in similar positions. The collars weren't just for nobility, they were an Unseelie thing. In the city, those wearing collars never stood. Those without collars dressed more liberally than their collared counterparts. Apparently, the collared had to stay covered up with the collar marking them as property.

Ben would conform if he had to, Mal was sure. After all, it's not like the High King would be expected to continue this practice in his own kingdom since the collared were allowed to walk during Mal's reception. The last thing they needed was to rile up the humans with their traditions. Entering her home, Mal wondered how they would split their time. In the back of her mind, she knew that her court could decide not to approve Ben. Her home was nice in a cozy sort of way she appreciated. Seeing how the Unseelie lived, in a way quite civilized yet unacceptable to civil human society, Mal wondered what rules applied to her and what rules didn't as much as she wondered what the rules were. Madame Fairweather was a Seelie born into a divided Fae society. At least, she never tried to tell Mal about the Unseelie without ample warning that all she knew was what the Seelie say.

During the first month, Mal made it her mission to learn about the courts and her people. The next month was spent as a guest of court members to determine who could be trusted. After two months, she had her court and had done much to bridge the divide between her people. Elektra of House Kingston, Nadia of House Hans, Talia of House Quade, Xena of House Alastair, and Tyson of House Dixon made up the Unseelie half with Amara of House Avalon, Lara of House Lazarus, Nova of House Quinn, Ezra of House Sterling, and Paxton of House Page as their counterparts. While the unified court is a priority, Mal knew she wasn’t going to get it perfect on the first try. At the first meeting for the unified court, Mal decided to present her intended, Ben "I shall return with my intended, High King Benjamin of Auradon."

Rising gracefully from her throne, Mal teleported to the edge of the Tourney field. She had standing permission to teleport back when she was done with her queenly duties. Jay and Carlos dropped their Tourney sticks and shields to run over, Evie simply ran from the stands with Doug and Jane following. Evie said "You can't just teleport in Auradon."

"The allowance Ben made for Genie shortly before we came here applies and since I cleared teleporting back with Ben, I have royal clearance."

Ben said "That's right."

Smiling, Mal said "You're wearing the medallion."

Ben picked it up by the chain "Of course. Is our engagement off? What did the court say?"

Holding her hands up, Mal told him "Actually, you need to call your parents to cover your kingly duties while I present you to court, I literally left a meeting to get you." Turning to Carlos and Jane "We need to talk to Fairy Godmother while he's doing that. We have to move fast because, like I said, the Fae court is meeting now so I can present Ben." Glancing at him "Is it okay if the four of us-you, me, Jane and Carlos- teleport to FGM's office? We really are on the clock."

"Sure," said Ben warily. Not that he didn't trust Mal, just magic was restricted- less so now but it had been tightly restricted for over a decade- for a reason. They huddled and Mal took them to Fairy Godmother's office, who let out a surprised yelp at their arrival.

The Fae Queen took charge "Ben, call your parents, we need to leave as soon as I finish talking with Fairy Godmother. Jane, Carlos, you're gonna want to sit down." Ben drifted to the edge of the room while Carlos pulled up an extra seat so the three of them could sit across from FGM at the desk.

Madame Fairweather asked "What is this about, dear?"

Mal smiled when the older faerie remembered not to call her 'my queen', a title which had taken some getting used to. The purplette asked her brother and the two Seelie faeries "I have good news and some news that's not really news, which do you want to hear first?"

"How about the not really new news," suggested Carlos.

"Jane of House Fairweather, you missed your own coming of age ceremony." Both Fairweather women gasped "The thing is, I know Carlos was fifteen when he asked you to Cotillion and if you were the same age then there's a bit of a loophole you can use."

Carlos confirmed "We're the same age, what's the loophole?"

"A two-year courtship which would end when Jane is eighteen, assuming she was almost sixteen when you started dating. Since I'm pretty sure you don't have Fae blood in you, only Madame Fairweather would have to approve and supervise the courtship. I know a lot of your dates were unsupervised but from now on, you'll have to conform to old traditions and we'll have to find someone for each of your dates we can say supervised for the head of the House Fairweather."

Fairy Godmother said "Of course I approve, now what's the good news?"

"It technically happened the night I arrived at the Moorlands, both Fae courts approved you to represent us in the High Court if I am unavailable. However, your house is now ineligible for a seat in any Fae courts as a Fae ambassador, I think." After a moment, Mal asked "Can I have some paper and a pen?" The older faerie provided both and Mal drew a sigil "What is this to you?"

"It's a sigil, the symbol for power."

Mal smirked "That it is, Unseelie Fae use sigils for house crests and that is the crest for the House Morgana. Ben's medallion need only bare that symbol to be a proper engagement gift, I'm gonna show him how to do it if he gets approved. The Unseelie have some unorthodox traditions so putting the crest on a medallion is a compromise."

"What kind of traditions?" asked Carlos.

"Ones that while part of civilized Unseelie society would be extremely unacceptable to human society. Luckily, I am the Queen of the Seelie and Unseelie Fae so compromises must be made in regards to traditions. That works both ways, some Seelie traditions have to be sacrificed to balance or blended with the Unseelie traditions."

Ben came over "How long do you think we'll be gone?"

"Maybe two weeks. After I present you to court, I cannot help you with any challenges they might issue. Magic is in the air in the Moors, just remember where your magic lies. You'll be fine, they can't exactly kill the High King, the worst they can do is say no to you being their king and banish you from their home."

Ben put his phone back up to his ear "Mal estimates two weeks. I have to earn the Fae Court's approval through challenges apparently." A moment passed. "Yes, love you too. Bye." He hung up.

"If you get approved, we'll probably be married by Fae tradition before we get back." She stood as she spoke and offered her hand "We're gonna teleport and as queen, I have authorized that so long as the ability is not used to impede on others' rights or further ill ends. Which pretty much means teleportation is illegal for use in crimes." They vanished in purple smoke and reappeared at the end of the Fae council area "High King Benjamin of Auradon, my intended with the magic of a familial curse." Mal sauntered over to her throne and sat down. “Allow me to introduce my court, beloved.” Mal said with a wave to the seats on her right, “Representing the Unseelie Fae, we have Elektra of House Kingston, Nadia of House Hans, Talia of House Quade, Ajax of House Alastair, and Tyson of House Dixon.” Mal waved to the seats on her left “Representing the Seelie Fae are Amara of House Avalon, Nova of House Quinn, Lara of House Lazarus, Paxton of House Page and Ezra of House Sterling.” Sharp eyes locked on each court member as they were introduced.

Paxton broke the following silence and soon Ben found himself answering questions from various members of the court. Each response was as carefully crafted as the mine-ridden question it addressed. In a moment of contemplative silence following a particularly skillful answer, Ben realized how sharp Mal's tongue had become. She'd mastered politics in two months among her people. Ajax turned to his queen "If I may?"

"He must prove his worth to you, he has already proven himself to me."

Ajax bowed his head "Thank you, my queen." Turning to Ben, he yanked the king's medallion off with an upward wave of his hand "Show us your magic."

_ Magic is in the air in the Moors, just remember where your magic lies. _ Mal's words echoed in Ben's mind and the young king took a deep breath, feeling power coarse through him as he turned into a beast. Truthfully, while he had some of his father's beastly characteristics, he'd always taken more after his mother and never considered the possibility he could have the ability to actually transform. Mal was in front of him as soon as the instinctive nature of the Beast drown out Ben's thoughts, she was unafraid with her wings and horns on full display. With just a touch, she calmed his bestial instincts. As he wrapped his huge furry arms around her, Ajax lowered the medallion back onto him.

The faerie who issued the challenge said "I believe we are all aware of the nature of the Enchantress' curse and we must support one so young yet so strong who bears it with such humanity. Needless to say, I vote in Benjamin's favor."

Mal slipped out of his arms and he watched from hurt eyes as she retook her throne "All in favor raise your hand." The whole court slowly raised their hands and Mal's magic filled Ben, turning him back. His clothes were now all black and stuck to him in an oddly comfortable way, he realized he was wearing normal Unseelie male attire, apparently. "Meeting adjourned."


	7. Plans

Mal led Ben down through a series of tunnels into some sort of house, "Magic lock, only myself and those I allow in can enter. Come." She sat him down on the couch, "My court is half of each individual court. Now that you've been accepted, we're gonna go around and introduce you to the other half of the Unseelie then tonight you'll meet the rest of the Seelie court."

"Okay." Mal rested her hands on the sides of his neck and an emerald collar appeared under the chain for the medallion. Her hands drifted to the ring in the front (where a dog license goes), slipping on the padlock. When the collar was secured snugly, Ben asked "What are you doing?"

"Unseelie couples have a dominant and subordinate half, the subordinate wears a collar bearing the dominant's house crest. Don't worry, it's just for down here."

"Alright."

"By down here, I mean underground."

Ben hesitated "I understand, I'm just thankful I don't have to wear it full time."

"If you were an Unseelie Fae, it wouldn't seem so bad or so I've heard." Mal stood "Another tradition that's not so strange is inviting the head of court to weddings. Since I've been here, I've presided over two weddings. Both courts have that tradition and neither seemed new to the practice so I'd say they've always done it."

"That explains why your mother was so mad about the christening,"

"You mean after King Stefan won the throne by betraying her?"

"Right," he chuckled nervously. "Anything else I should know?"

"Dominants do the talking for a couple, you get to walk as soon-to-be king of both Seelie and Unseelie but you'll see that's not common. You can only talk to another subordinate if you get down on your knees with them. Please just respect our customs and stick to one side, either you sit with me or you kneel with them in each home. Got it?"

"Got it."

"We came in the back door so you wouldn't be seen down here without your collar. Now we'll go out the front door." Like Mal had been months before, Ben was shocked to see how dominants treated their partners like dogs. "Remember, walk with me and don't talk. I have to give you permission to talk now." Ben trailed Mal to the first house where a brunette in a scarlet collar answered the door "Merry met, Fern of House Silas."

The woman stepped back to let them in and led them to a where a few dominants were playing cards while their collared partners knelt against the wall. "Merry met Rory of House Silas and Regina of House Felix."

A muscular man and a lithe woman merely turned to face her as the rest of the table stood to bow with their subs following suit, most of the room repeating the greeting "Merry met, my queen." The greeting was one of the few things that survived the schism as it is believed to have originated with Oberon and Titania, the first king and queen of the Fae, who became their deities.

Mal said "I've come to speak with the court members among you. Would you call a break to your game, Rory?"

Whether the muscular man would was a moot point because most of the table pocketed their cards and took their subordinates outside, leaving Rory and Regina with their subordinates. Mal took one of the vacated seats and waved Ben to kneel with the other subs. Regina spoke first "I see your intended was approved. Who led that endeavor?"

"Ajax of House Alastair, his Unseelie challenge convinced the light faeries."

"Really?" Regina appeared nice, Rory seemed to be doing his best to ignore Mal's presence. Ben wondered if being Queen gave Mal the ability to override the magic locks then remembered Rory's wife let them in and feared for her.

_ If Rory wants to be disrespectful then I'll return the favor _ , Mal thought "Fern,"

She didn't get more than the first word out before Rory slammed down his cards and turned to face her fully "What do you want?"

"Respect. You are acting like a child all because I did not choose you for my court."

"Damn right, Queen Mal." He sneered her title “By splitting the court so quickly, you upset the balance of power. You can be damn sure your chosen won’t represent us all properly."

"Are you done?"

Rory seemed to deflate, "Yeah, I'm done."

“I made a unified court a priority for foreign matters, that means that I will discuss with them how I vote in the High Court. I did not choose you because putting you on the unified court would be a waste. I want people I can trust on all three courts, can I trust you to care for your people or are you going to distract yourself by trying to earn a place on the unified court? I need to know who I can trust, respect is key to trust. I already got Dante out. If I need to get anyone else out then I’ll need replacements ready.”

Rory nodded, begrudgingly and Mal continued “I know ass-kissing when I see it. Can you arrange a meeting of the remaining court without tipping off the unified court? I’m not going to let court members play favorites and pick their replacements. Seats on the unified court must be earned, there will be no inheriting that."

"We'll arrange it," Regina answered "I'll get the women together and bring them here the back way. When?"

"Tomorrow." She looked at Ben, gesturing for him to stand then waved him over. He knelt next to her "Ben still needs to learn our customs, perfect cover to blow off the Seelie for a day."

"Yeah," agreed Rory. "Plus, our subs can't tell anyone."

"I have two weeks before the High King has to be back in Auradon."

"We'll plan accordingly, tomorrow." replied Regina.

"Regina of House Felix, Rory of House Silas, meet my consort Ben. It has been a pleasure speaking with you."


	8. Sub Room

The next home, Mal greeted "Merry met Titus of House Reuben." Ben saw a pattern with the collars, men wore green and ladies wore red.

Titus led them to a woman sitting at a desk "I've been expecting you." Ben noted that around their dominants, subordinates crawled but around their queen, they walked.

"No doubt. My consort, Ben."

The woman looked up "I am Eden, head of this household, High King Benjamin."

Ben nodded mutely, Eden ordered "Titus, take Benjamin elsewhere to talk while I speak with his dominant." The large man, much like Rory, nodded and crawled out of the room. Once in the hall, he stood and led Ben to a small room with a few chairs.

As they both sat down, Titus said "Sub room."

"We can talk here."

"Subs come here when doms don't want them around."

"Okay." Ben realized Titus may have been raised to be a subordinate.

In the study, Eden asked "What do you need from me my queen?"

"I need you to arrange something to distract members of my unified court from the rest of your half of the court tomorrow. We need to talk before jealousy and strife cause another split. All will be revealed at the meeting."

"I see, I will arrange a suitable distraction."

"Where did Titus take Ben?"

"The sub room, I'm sure your home has one. Though I doubt it would work as well with High King Benjamin, a sub room is where our partners go while we discuss matters of utmost secrecy. There once was a time when subordinates were raised to pleasure busy members of nobility without the trouble of courtships. Even today some subordinates are bought by their dominants."

"Like how House Hans took over House Dirk and Nadia was given Maddox."

"Maddox was to be her protector, no one knew she would break him."

"They were banking on his honor overriding his pride."

"Precisely."

"How does a house take over another?"

"Hans bought out the lesser houses that served Dirk, dragged their reputation through the mud and eventually made an argument to take Dirk's seat as the other house was too busy trying to regain their fortune and image to attend meetings. This was the last time a middle rung house was allowed into the court. Hans was far from the first house to do such a thing to an upstart house. With their seat on the court, House Dirk was effectively given to House Hans by Xenos. Dante took great pride in playing his part in that take over."

"I see."

"My Titus was raised as a subordinate, a present for another house. He was tutored normally for the basics then his lessons became about home-making and servitude. On his fourteenth birthday, his parents gave him a black fabric training collar bearing their house crest."

"They were soliciting him."

"Essentially. When I came of age, our parents arranged a courtship. Titus has lived in my house ever since. My house took over his house peacefully. His parents did not sell their son, make no mistake." Eden clearly understood the implications of her words. "In the time between his fourteenth birthday and my coming of age, his parents called off many courtships when the dominant did not care for Titus."

"You mean when doms abused him?"

"Have care how you speak, my queen? You are, after all, a dominant. No, his parents considered his feelings and his physical needs equally. I was the first dominant to properly meet both."

Mal stood, "I still have to present Ben to House Octavius and House Horace."

"Visit Octavius first, I'll summon Titus for your friend." Delicate fingers grasped a whistle, which was silent to human ears. In the sub room Titus pulled Ben to his feet and ran to the study, dragging the younger man. Letting go of Ben in the doorway, Titus slid to his knees by Eden who gave him a pat on the head "Good boy." Offering her hand to Mal "I will see you later, my queen."

"Later, House Reuben." Eden preferred to be recognized by her house.


	9. Chief House

Turning the corner by Mal’s house, they went to the chief's house. A woman greeted them wearily, crawling to guide them to the man of the house. Xenos was not much to look at, especially after Rory and Titus, two very muscular men. In fact, Xenos looked like a librarian. The moment they stepped through the door, Mal had waved for Ben to get down and thus he had crawled behind the collared woman. With a smile befitting a villain, Xenos greeted Mal "Merry met, my queen."

"Wish I could say the same, Xenos. Your duty as dominant is to care for your subordinate. We are not living in an age where subordinates are mere property."

"Blair is fine."

"She is clearly exhausted and I would be willing to bet beneath the glamor, she is also underweight. The only confidence I have regarding her treatment is that you have not beaten her severely enough to warrant Seelie healers."

"Would you be willing to trade?"

"I would be willing to hand you over to the Seelie court if your wife does not recover in two weeks time. Continue to mistreat her and you will lose her to House Felix."

That outraged him, "You would give my wife to Regina?"

"If she is your victim, she shall not share in your punishment. If her condition does not improve in 48 hours, I will give her to Regina for the remainder of her recovery. Should she not recover in two weeks, your followers would be unfit to judge and sentence you."

"You dare!"

Mal caught the bolt of red energy "And now you have attacked your queen, you know there is only one fitting punishment for such a crime." Xenos' anger vanished and he dropped to his knees, begging forgiveness. "No." The next moment he was gone. Mal turned to Blair "Stand up and show me the scrying room, Ben follow on your feet." Blair jumped to her feet and rushed to the requested room. With one hand, Mal turned the water basin into a video link "Hello, Regina of House Felix."

"Merry met, my queen."

Mal could hear the card game go silent. Muttering a few words, she shielded their conversation from eavesdroppers. "Xenos is dead, his subordinate is in rough shape and I hereby transfer her into the custody of your house for the duration of her recovery at minimum. She witnessed his death."

"I will send my best caregiver to collect her and her things."

"That is all I ask, Lady Regina."

"So it shall be done, Queen Mal." Waving a hand through the water, Mal ended the call. She turned around "Follow me." They went to the sitting room, "You can both speak."

"Do all homes follow the same plan?"

"Same general plan. If I recall correctly, the Unseelie made their home underground to be protected by the Earth, the very thing all Fae consider sacred. The Seelie made their home among the trees for the same reason. Blair, if it's not asking too much, I'd like you to sit wherever you're comfortable. Ben will get the door when the caregivers from House Felix arrive and we will see you through the whole process. You will be alright. No one is going to force you to bond with another dominant. I wouldn't be surprised if Lady Regina limited the dominants allowed near you." Blair sat down on the floor, openly sobbing. Ben sat next to her and nuzzled her, letting her feel his collar before he wrapped an arm around her.

Mal left the room to go back to the library, she found a deed to the House in the corner desk and rolled it up, sending the document to her house. Then she dug around some more and found the document legalizing Xenos’ union with Blair before rejoining the others. Mal sat down on an ottoman as Ben was drawn from the room by a knock at the door. With the caregivers present, working subordinates if their collars were anything to go by, Mal showed Blair the document "Ben and I are going to go with you to see what House Felix has to offer. If you like it there, I will officially transfer custody over to Lady Regina. If you don't like it there then I will simply nullify House Octavius claim on you. Right now, the power is in your hands. If you don't feel safe where these caregivers from House Felix take you then you may stay in my House as a guest."

"Alright." The two women Regina sent helped Blair to her feet, showing her all of the respect befitting a chief, which she was as Chief Xenos' widow until the court could elect a replacement chief.


	10. Clinic

At the clinic, Blair's caregivers barred Mal entry to the check up room. Standing in the hall with Ben at her feet, she noted that only subordinates were allowed in certain rooms while dominants filled certain subordinate roles for other rooms. "This is a rehab."

Mal turned to see Regina and her subordinate Ezekiel mirroring her and Ben, "What?"

"Some dominants have a moment of clarity where they realize they're mistreating their subs while other times subs reach a breaking point and do what you did to Xenos. This is a rehab, no matter the case, we rehabilitate those who were in abusive relationships. In fact, sometimes, a dominant wears a subordinate's collar."

"I've heard of the human equivalents."

Ezekiel kept glancing at Ben then forcing himself to look forward only to steal another glance until Regina sighed "Ezekiel, take Ben to the sub visitors' center and have fun." With a satisfied smile, Ezekiel led the new sub out of the hall.

"What was that?"

"Ezekiel is quite social for a subordinate and in any case, he doesn't do well staying still. Would you like a tour?"

"I promised Blair- actually, yes."

"They will be with her for at least an hour, coaxing her to tell the truth about her dominant and explaining treatment options. I have already contacted Ramsey and told him of Xenos' demise, he understands you and your sub won't be able to make and has promised to cover for you with the Seelie Fae."

"Xenos wasn't very popular, I see."

"He inherited his position. I assume you took his House deed."

"Of course. I hope Blair's case is considered severe, she looked exhausted and broke down crying soon after we left the room, seemed like she was scared to cry where Xenos had just been."

"Who did you visit just before Xenos?"

"House Reuben."

"So you know Titus' story?"

"Was Blair gifted to Xenos? You said he inherited the position of chief."

"Yes, though there was also a courtship so I think Xenos charmed her as well. I believe our world is better without Xenos."

"You know who I like for the chief position, who would you pick?"

"I agree with your choice, that is to say Rory. I think Ramsey would be a better fit for your unified court and we don't need a temporary chief, we need a capable chief. Rory will listen to everyone's opinions on each matter and consider them equally. You saw how he gets when he thinks the wrong choice has been made, that part of him will ensure he always does his best to make the right choice."

"How much time do we have before the election?"

"A week at the most. Why?"

"Before I give my support to any candidate, I need to see how they treat their subordinates. Can I trust you to keep the reason for his execution quiet or have you already told Ramsey?"

"I asked around and told everyone that you had called me about Xenos death, which is the perfect excuse to assemble court members at House Silas while the Seelie are still in the trees above our meeting chamber."

"I'm sorry, remind me again where the Seelie Fae usually live?"

"Neverland, mostly. It's an island which is an advantage, and Tinkerbell, I admit, is a pretty good ally. Now about that tour," Regina showed Mal around the clinic, showing off the different departments "We were just in the rehab part but this is a fully functioning hospital and free clinic." Ending in the visitors' center "There are two visitors' centers, one for subordinates and children, another for dominants. Families have to stay in the waiting room proper if the dominants and kids want to stay together."

Mal saw Ezekiel reading "Was Ezekiel raised as a subordinate?"

"No, he presented as one. He's too easily distracted to be a dominant. We actually met here. He was in rehab after a dominant his parents liked put him in the hospital. They thought he was helping Ezekiel focus but the focus was the result of fear."

"You almost sound Seelie."

"I guess I do. Ezekiel is the reason we have reintegration programs and off-site dormitories. His parents couldn't believe the Dom that won them over could be so terrible, going so far as to insist their son was lying. The doctor was a subordinate because Ezekiel dislocated his shoulder trying to press into the corner at the sight of a Dom doctor, who responded by leaving the room and enrolling his patient in rehab which had the effect of banning dominants from his room." Regina smiled "When his parents began to insist Ezekiel lied, his doctor borrowed a Dom from the cafeteria staff and had him deliver the news."

"They accepted it just because the person saying it didn't wear a collar."

"It's unfortunately common. While Dom doctors aren't allowed in the room with Sub rehab patients, we often have them deliver the bad news to blood relatives."

"How does this amount to off-site dorms?"

"Ezekiel couldn't stay with his parents because they had so much trouble accepting he was an abuse victim, he couldn't even trust a doctor who was a Dom so his doctor had him placed in a maternity room at night because Dom staff aren't allowed around newborns unsupervised and at night, there's no one to supervise them so they can't access the maternity ward."

"Wow."

"When we started our reintegration program, we spread Ezekiel's success story. The hospital had a huge influx, parents who walked in on their subordinate children being abused and didn't know what to do as well as dominants who didn't realize subordinates could lie and fool their parents."

"They thought that because their victim didn't report them that they didn't do anything wrong?"

"They thought their subordinate agreed with them, the part about dislocating his shoulder was included in almost every version of his story. Like I said, we have dominants in rehab because they had a moment of clarity and realized they were abusing their subs."

"Incredible. There's a lot to be learned from this. Do you have some of the news stories?"

"I have all of them."

"I think humans need something like this, we'll have to translate the stories into something that applies to humans but this could be a game-changer and a good way to curry favor."

"Of course."

Awkwardly, Mal asked "You and Ezekiel?"

"I don't try to make him focus. You and Ben?"

"Kind of the opposite of your story. He believed in me when no one did. He's only wearing the collar because I told him it's part of our culture, he trusts me and that's huge," said Mal, blushing.

Looking in on Ben and Ezekiel, Regina looked almost lovesick "A dom is supposed to care for a sub, emotions have no place in our society but are integral to Seelie society." The young queen realized that, per her own rules, Regina couldn't retrieve Ezekiel from the center.

Mal smiled, looking at Ben who was playing with kids "When I first saw subs and doms at my reception dinner, I thought you used love potions in your union ceremonies."

"We use various potions but not that kind."

"I know all about union ceremonies and Seelie weddings yet I'm still learning. In two weeks, no matter what, Ben and I return to Auradon. I have school to catch up on before I can come back here."

"Understood."

"We'll visit Ramsey of House Horace once Blair decides whether she wants her union simply nullified or custody transferred."

"I would recommend you nullify the union once the doctors are done so that she can be issued a temporary collar for rehab."

"I will, I'm still waiting for the doctors to deliver word. Should we head back?"

"No need, they'll find us when it's time." Regina went into the dom visitors' center and after hesitating for a moment, Mal followed. Inside, doms were nervously awaiting word or permission to visit loved ones.


	11. House Horace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last House

A doctor knocked on the door, holding a sign with the name Blair on it. Mal stepped into the hall and listened to the doctor explain what his patient had chosen. Summoning the document, Mal carefully nullified Xenos' claim to avoid stealing the Faerie woman's claim as widow. Nodding to himself, the doctor said "Thank you, my queen." before leaving. Ben had noticed Mal talking with the doctor and left the visitors' center, Ezekiel passed the book to another adult sub before following.

As soon as Ezekiel left the room, Regina was at his side "Come, Ezekiel. We're going home." With a smile, the man followed his wife out.

Mal said "We still have to visit House Horace before we can go home." The last house was closer to the clinic than Mal's home. "Merry met, Serena." The collared woman walked them to a dining room where a strong, slim man stood upon their arrival "Merry met, Lord Ramsey." Serena knelt beside Ramsey's chair.

"Merry met, Queen Mal. May I assume this is your chosen consort, the High King?"

"Indeed, this is Benjamin." Mal sat down and Ben knelt, mirroring the other couple.

"Well then I must say merry met, my future king."

Ben was shocked, Mal said "You may speak."

"You don't act like a typical," he couldn't find the right word to finish his thought.

Ramsey chuckled before explaining "Long ago- many human generations if I'm not mistaken- during one of our wars with outsiders, the two courts needed an alliance to survive the siege but they couldn't trust each. Two faeries, one Seelie, the other Unseelie, offered themselves to be wed." Ramsey chuckled again, "That is to say the Seelie Faerie made the suggestion to the Seelie court and the Unseelie Faerie made the same proposition to the Unseelie court. When the praetors and chiefs met to negotiate their alliance, they both laughingly recounted the offer. Since the leaders did not come up with the idea, the betrothal was acceptable to both parties. There was a courtship, of course. We couldn't expect the Seelie to trust an Unseelie and they couldn't expect us to do the same when distrust was the very reason for the engagement. You should've seen the Seelie when I collared Serena, they were shocked that their half of the union was to be subordinate. As I understand it, human men are often more respected while human women are prized. That is not the case with the Fae, we favor females. We also don't have a problem with homosexual relations as you humans do."

"Witches were once often consorts to Fae women," noted Mal.

"Exactly," Ramsey waited for the light to go off in Ben's head and when he realized the lord was not going to say anymore, Ben reflected on the story.

"Serena was Seelie," said Ben. "Your relationship isn't a typical Unseelie one because your wife was not raised as Unseelie."

"Excellent, there may be hope yet for you."

Mal told Ben "Ramsey and Elektra have taught me much."

"Who do you like to replace Xenos as chief?" asked Ramsey as Serena came back with two trays of food, setting one in front of either dom. Ben hadn't noticed her leave.

"I have an idea that I'd like to run by you."

"Shoot."

"To balance my unified court, perhaps I should transfer Elektra's title of chief to another female dom. What do you think?"

"I think it depends on who you would back for such a position."

"Well, we both know that in case a chief loses their title or dies without an eligible heir, the court votes. With the empty seat, I would not be needed to break a tie. I also know that due to your mixed union, you and Serena could break a tie for either court when there was no proper queen."

"Aurora was only sovereign on paper, truly." Ramsey thought over her words "Are you asking me to be chief?"

"I have asked Rory and Regina to gather the court tomorrow, those not a part of my unified court, to discuss succession for the seats on my court. Your invitation will not be written out as such but this must be done without the Seelie or unified courts' knowledge. We will properly discuss plans then." Ben listened and ate the food Mal held for him, she was very good at playing politics.

"I will be sure to accept Rory's invitation,"

"We will discuss plans then. I will not say more now only to repeat myself at the meeting."

"Of course, my queen."

"There is still the matter of succession." Ramsey raised an eyebrow "Fae mothers can only bear Fae children. Benjamin must have an heir to the throne of Auradon, a human kingdom."

"Ah, of course." Many minutes passed as Ramsey thought the matter through, "Perhaps you could use an enchantment to turn your child human when the time comes for such an heir to be born."

"That is what I thought. My question is actually about the order of heirs. Should my first born be heir to the Fae or heir to Auradon?"

"Ah, yes." His thought process was much briefer "The problem there is that Benjamin's lifespan is much shorter than yours. If you insist he sire the heir to the Fae throne then you must decide before your first child is born which court is more needing of an heir. As your lifespan is much longer than your consort's, you could have children long after he is deceased. Perhaps you should turn your first born human and wait to bear an heir for the Fae court."

"Thank you for the advice, Lord Ramsey." They both stood and Ben followed Serena's example to stand behind Mal.

"Thank you for the visit, Queen Mal." They shook hands before Lord Ramsey walked them to the door, Serena falling back to walk beside Ben. Serena hugged Ben at the door before he followed Mal out.


	12. House Morgana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mal explains a few things to Ben.

The walk back to Mal's house was peaceful. Inside, Mal led Ben back to the sitting room where he knelt in front of her. "You're catching on fast. Unfortunately, that is probably an Unseelie thing. Outside the Moors, the collar will feel strange and you'll ask yourself why you did many things you did. You can speak."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're human, Ben." Mal sighed "Did Madame Fairweather teach you nothing of the Unseelie's history with humans?" Ben shook his head. "Have you ever heard of evil faeries snatching babies?" Slowly, Ben nodded. "That happened, sort of. Old Faeries, changelings, would take the place of human babies, who would be taken by other Faeries. The Unseelie are infamous for trapping humans, giving them everything they want and nothing they need before draining them."

Ben found he had to force himself to rise to sit next to Mal so he could comfort her. No wonder Mal had thought they used love potions in union ceremonies. "Can you explain the structure of the courts to me?"

Forcing a smile, Mal accepted the change of subject for what it is "In the Unseelie Court, the leaders are called chiefs. My court is half of the individual courts. The Seelie call court leaders praetors. All three courts have twelve seats, six for male members and six for female members. I can preside over any court meeting as a tie breaker in a vote."

"What about unions? How does that work?"

"You mean like us?" Ben nodded. "We'll be having a blended ceremony above ground so our union will be fully recognized by all Fae. The Unseelie don't use words like marriage, wedding, husband or wife. They call the wedding a union ceremony and their marriage is simply a union. Instead of husband and wife, they have dominant or dom and subordinate or sub. They still use the words husband and wife when dealing with outsiders but mostly doms don't even bother introducing their subs."

"Tomorrow I'll meet the Seelie court, what about them?"

"They're more human. Tinkerbell falls under the Seelie banner and as you may have heard when I was talking to Carlos, Jane is a member of a noble house."

"Was that just today?"

Returning his smile, Mal said "I know. We've covered a lot of ground."

Ben asked the question he'd been wondering for a while "Do all the doors down here open for you because you're the queen."

"Yes," Mal's mood seemed to fall.

"That's cool," Ben tried to cover his misstep.

Mal sighed and stood "I'm tired, how about you?"

Ben nodded and followed suit "Probably a good time to go to sleep. What time is it?"

"That takes some getting used to, I know it's late but the time itself, I have no idea." Mal led Ben to the room next to hers "I'm next door, at the end of the hall but this is your room."

"Thanks."

Mal reached up to touch his collar "This doesn't come off, at least it won't for you but if you touch the lock then the glamour should go away." Ben did and looked down, seeing the clothes he'd been wearing before his transformation "Yeah, Faerie magic, they've been fixed for a while."

"Thank you." They stood awkwardly until Ben hugged her, nuzzling her shoulder "Feels good to rub against something but the collar doesn't feel uncomfortable otherwise."

"Subordinates are the heart while dominants are the head of a household."

"Okay." He straightened and gestured to his room.

"Tomorrow, we'll share my room. You probably won't even feel the collar come off tomorrow when we head topside."

"Alright. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ben." Mal forced herself to go to her room.


	13. Seelie Court

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben meets the light faeries

After taking the medallion off, Ben slept surprisingly well with the collar on. To be honest, he had almost forgotten he was wearing one throughout the previous day until he saw the Unseelie subordinates and remembered he was one. Mal placed a glamour on him as they got in the tunnels to go above ground, giving him the appearance of wearing autumn orange clothes. Mal herself traded her dark purple attire for light grass green "The Seelie Fae live in Neverland, like Tinkerbell. This is just what they look like."

Sitting at the head of a table running perpendicular to another one on a raised platform, Mal explained "Normally I sit there with my court but you're being introduced to the Seelie Court and they sit here. Unseelie sit over there," pointing to the other table running parallel to theirs. "To be honest, the courts don't gather here daily. The Seelie will be meeting us here today. You can sit in the chair," gesturing to an empty chair set out beside hers. Ben quickly sat down and Mal sighed "Touch the green part of your medallion and take a deep breath." As Ben did, he felt a tingling sensation cover his body "Keep going until you feel normal."

Once the tingling went away, Ben's hand fell from his medallion and he asked "What?"

"I told you last night what being human among the Fae is like."

"Magic is in the air."

"The medallion is based on the Dragon Eye, only Madame Fairweather made it not my mother so the magic's a little different."

The table began filling with people and soon food appeared in front of each person. Mal introduced the couples seated next to them "Praetor Landon and his wife Lady Naomi of House Levi. Praetor Zelda and her husband Lord Magnus of House Mason." Landon sat next to Ben, a slim and rather unassuming man. Next to Mal, Zelda seemed to carry a warrior's confidence. Starting with the man next to Naomi, Mal introduced the court "Lord Baxter and his wife Lady Holly of House Isaac." Beside them "Lord Basil and his wife Lady Echo of House Camille." Moving back over to the woman beside Magnus, "Lady Faye and her husband Lord Antek of House Abel." Lastly "Lady Riva and her husband Lord Palmer of House Palmer." Mal waved to Ben "I would like to introduce you all to my consort, Benjamin the High King of Auradon."

Ben said "Merry met, all." Echoes of that went around the table before diving into business.

Landon complained "First we are not as well represented at court and now we are not as well respected."

"You introduced your consort to the Unseelie first," agreed Zelda.

In a clearly bored tone, Magnus argued "Our queen was born Unseelie, her house is in their world. It is only proper she introduce him to their court. If she were Seelie, we would be insulted by the notion she introduce her consort to them first. As it stands, the greater insult lies in not introducing her partner to the court of her birth."

"Thank you, Lord Magnus. Praetors, my unified court has no room for personal politics. I need a court that can bring me up to speed on matters of importance to their individual courts. By finding insult in my choices, not only of court members but also the order in which I introduce my mostly human consort, you prove you have no place among my court. But, I do plan to strip Chief Elektra of her title as chief and call for an election to replace both Unseelie leaders. In two weeks time, my partner and I will return to Auradon where I will be predominately indisposed furthering my understanding of human history, politics and customs. My unified court is my council. As such, they need to be efficient enough that I can meet with them shortly before a High Court meeting and be properly informed. Praetors, you proved to me you are petty the first day I was here when you could not set aside your differences with the Unseelie Fae long enough to respectfully share a meal." After catching the eye of all court members, Mal's steeled expression softened and her voice returned to the pleasant tone she'd used to thank Lord Magnus "Now, are there any pressing matters or can we begin to educate your future king on Seelie society?"

After being brushed off by the Unseelie, Ben was surprised to be the center of attention. Each court member had something they deemed incredibly important for Ben to know and they all got a chance to explain their thing. The Faeries took their time delivering their lesson until Ben could explain the concept to even a moron, which might be necessary given how immature or stubbornly dense some of his acquaintances could be. They spent hours at the table, staying put long after they finished their food and the plates vanished. Every lesson, no matter how condescending the tutor, was engaging. The faeries stopped randomly and waited for Ben to recite what he'd learned thus far. The young king didn't see Mal flag Rory down on his way out to postpone the meeting later. Shortly after lunch, Mal had Ben recite all of his lessons before they went back down to the Unseelie world.


	14. Unseelie Court

Stopping near the end of the main tunnel that connects the labyrinth that the Unseelie made home, Mal looked at Ben sadly "It's time." The glamour shifted as Ben knelt. Mal's hands rested on his neck to return the collar. "Remember, you can cleanse your system by touching the medallion and taking deep breaths." Ben nodded. "Alright, let's go to House Silas." Ben followed, walking since he had permission to do that. Fern answered the door as they approached, leading them to the game room. The small table that Rory and Regina had been playing cards with lesser doms was gone, replaced with a shiny black table that could seat the full Unseelie Court. Everyone except Dante was present, leaving two seats open for him and the queen.

Elektra said "We figured we'd save ourselves the trouble and just have the election here."

"Dante?" prompted Mal as she sat down, Ben knelt next to Ezekiel.

Eden said "I already had this great distraction arranged for Xenos so I just changed targets."

"Alright. First thing's first, Lady Elektra of House Kingston, I hereby strip you of the title of Unseelie Chief." At the court members' shocked expressions, Mal explained "My unified court is actually my council and as such members represent their faction. I must do what I can to avoid another split and prevent more wars."

Elektra said "I would rather the records say I retired than was stripped of my title if it is all the same to you."

"Fine by me. This means we need two chiefs. I support Regina of House Felix and Rory of House Silas as candidates for the chief positions. I nominate Ramsey of House Horace and Eden of House Reuben to propose lower houses to fill the empty court seat."

"Dante of House Royce will among us no longer," announced Rory, "He has already failed us by allowing himself to be distracted from joining these proceeding. His disrespect for the Unseelie Court is well documented and I for one will no longer stand it, especially from a representative."

"As soon as this meeting is over, I will strip him of his title. That gives us two seats to fill, those of House Royce and House Octavius. I will issue a formal invitation to his replacement as soon as the formalities are dealt with. Now, do we have any more candidates for the chief positions or will Regina and Rory be elected by default?"

A moment of silence passed before Tyson spoke up "I don't want another situation like this where our chief moves to the unified court. I suggest you name a successor should a seat open up on your court ahead of time."

"If I were to do that, I would have to let both courts know all four successors' names. I expect you understand why that is a bad idea." The various court members nodded, "Well then, seeing as there are no other candidates. Regina of House Felix and Rory of House Silas are now officially Unseelie chiefs. Elektra will retain her seat on my unified court, which will act as my council." With the pressing matters out of the way, the discussion turned towards recent events.

Regina smiled upon seeing Ben work to alleviate Ezekiel's restlessness without stepping out of line. Eden suggested "Perhaps we should dismiss our subordinates to the sub room, assuming you have one Chief Rory?"

"Yeah." Looking at his sub, Rory said "Fern, take the others to the sub room."

With a nod, Fern tapped the shoulder of the sub next to her and waved to the others before crawling out of the room. The subordinate next to her followed suit, setting off a chain reaction.

Rory insisted "I'm not moving in Xenos' house, I'm staying here."

Mal replied "I would never ask you to move into that monster's home, in fact I think that the position of chief should not carry a residence change."

Regina said "I couldn't agree more. Let's vote to make it official." Majority ruled with the minority abstaining. The discussion of current events resumed.

* * *

The House Silas' sub room was decorated much nicer than the House Reuben's. Ezekiel and Ben found a couple of black bean bags in a corner, like in the visitors' center at the House Felix Medical Center. The subordinates found things to do in the sub room, which seemed not only nicer but bigger than the one Titus took Ben to. The visitors' center had brought Ben to a realization about Unseelie society. The collars make subs seem like property but the society saw them as children more than objects. Doms are required to care for them, emotionally and physically. In return, subs are devoted to their doms. Ben touched a hand to his medallion and took deep breaths, Ezekiel asked "What are you doing?"

"My medallion helps me handle the magic in the air, Mal gave it to me as an engagement gift."

"Oh," the part about Mal gifting the medallion to him seemed to be the part Ezekiel focused on. Ben smiled as the Faerie resumed their conversation like he'd never stopped.


	15. Two Weeks

After everyone had their fill of gossip, Rory went to the sub room "Time to go." His voice was deep and gravelly, Ben noted absently, like he was always angry. The human sub followed Ezekiel to line up along the hall leading to the door. One by one, doms leashed their subs and left. Ben watched as Regina bent her knees slightly, securing her leash on Ezekiel's collar. Ben noted the leash bore a different symbol to the lock on the collar.

Smirking, Mal asked "Ready to go?"

Ben startled and turned to face her, nodding mutely. He followed her, moving to his feet once outside the door. They went home, straight into Mal's office. When Ben reached for a book, Mal warned "You won't be able to read that, all the books are in the language of the Fae, various dialects." Instead, he just made himself comfortable in a plush chair. Watching her, he kept one hand on his medallion to dispel magic's influence so he could think clearly.

After dealing with the documentation necessary to enact the motions carried from the meeting, Mal showed Ben her room. "What's the cage for?"

"I haven't changed anything since I've been here but I assume that's from at least a hundred years ago because Stefan and Diaval were my mother's only consorts in the last hundred years, which when you get down to it is only fifty years and change because she'd been on the Isle for forty years and change."

"Okay. That's for a subordinate then."

"A subordinate in trouble, keeps them close to their dom but unable to touch."

"Alright."

"Your room is for a child, I think."

"I figured by the," he gestured to the area around the cage was in, which had things a dom might use on their sub.

"Yeah."

* * *

Aside from the busy first few days, their two weeks in the Moors went by in an uneventful blur. They were wed by Fae traditions the day before they were set to leave. Ben had stopped wearing his subordinate collar soon after meeting the Seelie Fae with the excuse that it would be a grievous insult to that court to see him wearing it. The young king couldn't get over how well the rather straight-forward Faerie took to the nuances of politics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short wrap up. We have maybe two or three more chapters to go.


	16. Return

Returning to Castle Beast in formal clothes, Ben and Mal laughed at the latter's misstep. After freezing in shock for a moment, Belle hugged both of them, excited by their return while Adam kept opening and closing his mouth, as though wanting to speak but not sure what to say or if he should speak. Clearing her throat, Mal informed her in-laws "By Fae traditions, Ben and I were wed yesterday to give Ben standing among the Fae. If it's all the same with you I'm gonna teleport back to my dorm to catch up with my brothers and sister." King Adam finally decided on not speaking and just nodded. Mal hugged Belle goodbye before vanishing to her dorm.

Studying with Carlos and Doug, Evie and Jane let out a surprised squeak at her arrival. "How's it hanging? I need a tutor to catch up on three months of school."

All four smiled before Carlos beat the others to the punch "I'll do it, sis."

"Great. Did FGM set rules for you and Jane?"

Carlos nodded, "Just no one-on-one dates without prior approval, group dates are fine."

"Great." Mal fell back on her bed "Ben and I are married, by Fae traditions, meaning until Auradon recognizes such a union, he's a step above most humans with the title of royal consort. I hate politics."

“You must be good at it to end centuries of war and strife in three months,” noted Evie.

Mal lifted her head to explain “They both recognized me as queen, now they’re rivals instead of all out enemies.” Her head fell back as she voiced her thoughts “I want school to be my escape.”

“You got it,” said Carlos, recognizing Mal was drained and beginning to pack up his books.

Evie waved for the AKs to start packing up as she said “We’ll move this to Jane’s room, Chad and Jay are hosting the new Isle kids in the boys’ room.”

“Chad?” As far as Mal knew, Chad had gone from hatred to indifference and only because FGM called both his and Audrey’s parents the first time they picked on the Core Four after the conference. “Ugh, you’ll have to catch me up when you get back. Just, go now.”

Evie herded the others out, “See you later.” Once the study group had moved, probably to join another study group, Mal reflected.

After the Coronation, they were called into FGM’s office where the heroes of their parents stories were waiting along with Queen Leah, who Mal could’ve sworn was simply the Queen in her mother’s story. Anita, Belle and Snow were as kind as their stories said they were but the others practically drowned them out. Evie and Jay notice Carlos about to panic, neither saw their leader in a similar state until a wave of magic washed over the room.

Queen Leah had said “And now she uses magic to solve her problems, just like her mother.”

Jay had retorted “Yeah, just like a lizard. In case you forgot, we chose good, we stopped Maleficent.” Now fully on the defensive and focused on keeping attention off the others while the girls calmed Carlos’ panic attack, he asked “How many of you had to stand up to an evil parent who raised you? I think Snow White is the only hero here who can come close to claiming that and she is one of the few not damning us for being sent to Auradon by villain parents to do something bad. In case none of you noticed, Mal’s magic outburst did nothing. Isn’t that right, Fairy Godmother?”

The good fairy had noticed the others crouch down to help Carlos, moving her firmly to their side “That’s right. Mal’s magic outburst as Jay called it was actually stress causing her power to overflow, this time in the form of energy whooshing away as harmless light and sound. It’s a defense mechanism, one Mal controlled just enough not to do harm.”

“Are you saying you have the same mechanism?” asked Jay.

“Well, I’ve never been under such serious stress so I honestly have no idea.”

“Serious stress?” Adam roared “We’re asking for an explanation.”

“You’re not asking anything,” shot back Jay, “Least not of us. We couldn’t get a word in.” As he said we, he glanced back to catch a nod from Carlos. “And you sent Carlos into a panic attack with your yelling. You want an explanation? Simply put, villains don’t love their kids. Now if you’ll excuse us, the worst thing following a panic attack is to be around the triggers.” He herded the others out in the stunned silence that followed him standing up to the former beast and high king.

Mal figured the women must’ve been able to get a word in, Aladdin had seemed unsure the whole time and was only backing up his wife who had been shouting insults at Jay. The next time any of them saw a royal, the rulers had seemed contrite for a much different reason but Jay had set the standard. They could not let heroes get off so easy when they hadn’t gotten off easy for anything -Family Day ring any bells?- in the time leading up to Jay’s outburst. The dinner was the next logical step, according to Auradon logic which continued to baffle three of the Core Four.

Mal remembered Jay calling a meeting in his and Carlos’ room, she’d gone in and asked “What’s up?”

“Did Ben invite you guys to a dinner too?” asked Carlos.

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk about,” said Jay.

Looking bored to anyone who didn’t know her, Evie had explained “We haven’t been letting royals get their absolution so now we have to explain why. Ben probably wants us to tell our stories as an explanation.” Looking at each of the others, “This is actually good for us. Give us a chance to explain, tell our stories and maybe drop some names for the next batch of VKs.”

“This could help other kids get off the Isle,” Mal had latched onto that “And change the way they’re treated once here. We don’t have to do this, the ball is in our court.”

“But if we do, we’d be helping our friends back on the Isle,” continued Carlos.

Then Jay declared “We are not friends,” gesturing to the four of them. He sighed before saying “I love you guys like family ‘cause that’s what we are, family.”

“Found family,” said Evie “We’re not blood but that’s okay, we’re something better.”

Carlos had smiled one of his small, genuine smiles “Found family, I like it.”

Mal gave one of her rare, genuine smiles “Me, too because that is what we are. You guys are my brothers and Evie, you’re my sister.”

“Yeah, we’re siblings.” said Jay before rubbing his neck and admitting “I hadn’t gotten that far yet.”

Mal took a seat at one of the desks “Okay, let’s share our stories with each other and decide what the heroes need to know. We’re not gonna be some freak show, we’re, we’re-”

“Revolutionaries,” declared Jay.

The dinner led to more Isle kids being brought over based on the Core Four’s understanding of the gangs of the Isle. They knew Gil, son of Gaston, was a part of Uma, daughter of Ursula’s crew, along with Harry Hook. First came the young, uncorrupted VKs like Billie Sykes, daughter of Bill Sykes, and Dizzy Tremaine, daughter of Drizella Tremaine the wicked stepsister. A few kingdoms set up adoption programs for the children of henchmen, who were brought over on a by-adoption basis and not eligible for the Auradon Prep scholarship their major counterparts are. The violence of the Isle, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, did not flow over into Auradon though many kids took to wearing sunglasses at all times after living in a place where sunlight was as rare as gold.

Mal smiled, thinking about all they’d accomplished before getting up. Changing into more casual attire, she went down to Fairy Godmother’s office “Knock, knock.”

“Mal!” Madame Fairweather hugged her queen excitedly. Chuckling Mal hugged back and explained “Woah, I just need to start catching up and since you are my regent, I thought what better place to start?”

“Right,” they got down to business, the High Court had voted to bring more Isle kids over as well as approved more quality of life measures such as the clean water bill which had been a thorn in Auradon’s side. Not that they didn’t want to give the Isle clean water, the problem was how. Finally a proposal came that worked and as such, was approved. “Also, I’ve made Carlos and Jane’s courtship official with a few rules.”

“I heard, group dates only without prior approval.”

“Ah yes, you would’ve seen their study group.”

“Yeah.”

“As is tradition,”

“I’m invited,” finished Mal. “Even if that wasn’t tradition, do you really think Jane and Carlos wouldn’t invite me?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Evie said she’d catch me up on school stuff like why Chad is helping Jay host a meeting of Isle kids?”

“That one, I can answer. The guys from the Isle won’t let Chad near the girls in any other way.”

“You’re telling me he has a crush on an Isle girl?”

“Yes. He came to my office to complain, like I could make them let him near her.”

“Or would after the stuff he pulled when my crew first got here.”

FGM smiled “As you know, Chad has been told to stay away from the transfer students.”

“How many are we up to now?”

“Almost all of the villain children under the age of 18 are in Auradon.”

“Wow and Ben used to worry about getting votes for his proclamation. Things have changed.”

“Yes, they have, thanks to you and your friends.”

“Evie, Jay and Carlos aren’t my friends. We’re found family. Our parents don’t care about us but we do so friends just seems a little,” She struggled to find the right word, “lacking, I guess. Soft, maybe. Jay once declared that we’re not friends because we’re more than that and we all agree.”

 


	17. Wedding

After mastering Fae politics in just under three months, catching up on school work was a breeze. Soon, Queen Mal was rocking school and politics like a pro. That's when the betrothal came up again. Ben had been approved, they were even wed by the Fae. Now she had to sit down and work out a marriage contract. What she asked for was simple, equal sovereignty. Ben would have as much standing with the Fae as Mal had with humans, both would be slightly less than their spouse had through birthright. What wasn't written but was understood was that Jay would take the place of Mal's father for the ceremony. Now, it was time.

Mal was sat in front of a vanity as Evie did her thing. One of the big changes Mal missed while doing her duty as Fae Queen was how children of dethroned royals were now returned royal status in Auradon, that and the fact that Jay's mother was in fact Jasmine putting him second in the line of succession after Aziz the legitimate heir. No surprise, Jasmine and Snow White were the two biggest proponents, which Mal knew from being one of the four Auradon looked to for guidance when it came to the Isle. So now, Mal was Queen of the Fae, Evie was a true princess and Jay was a prince. Carlos was happy to be engaged and on good terms with the Radcliffes, who had adopted his younger cousin Juan to speed up the little guy's transfer off the Isle. Diego refused to leave without his band, music being his life, and as such switched places with his little brother when he was put on the list for an earlier transfer due to being Carlos' teenage cousin. Apparently, and this had been a point of confusion as Carlos was adopted shortly after the Coronation to keep him off the Isle, Juan and Diego were his cousins not his step-brothers.

Evie shook her sister's shoulder when Mal zoned out, "Huh?"

"You left us for a minute. I was asking if you're ready."

"I already married him twice, why not go for three?"

"That's the spirit."

Carlos popped in "Ladies, it's time to start."

Mal stood "I'm ready, how about you?"

They all smiled and Dizzy picked up her basket of flowers. The youngest members of the wedding party were Dizzy and Juan, as such they were flower girl and ring-bearer respectively. Carlos' face had lit up when Mal suggested his cousin for the job, keeping with people they knew. A surprising number of Isle kids were invited by people outside the Core Four.

Jane and Carlos followed Dizzy, Uma and Harry went next. Both pirates had been shocked to be invited but Mal explained they weren't really rivals in Auradon and it'd be a good press shot, using logic to avoid a refusal. Gil was excited to go to a wedding and Mal informed them that were she not marrying the king, it would be totally acceptable for all three to go as one triad but as it was, Gil would break the balance between bridesmaids and groomsmen. He was fine as long as he got a front row seat, which Mal promised could be arranged. Sometimes Mal thought the idea that Auradon accepted triads is what sold them. After Uma and Harry, there was Jordan and Chad. Not that he had anything against Genie's daughter but Chad had been hoping he could walk with the girl of his dreams Yzla. Audrey walked with Aziz, since Jay was his brother. Lastly, Maid of Honor Evie and Best Man Doug. Belle walked Ben down the aisle before everyone stood to watch Jay hand Mal off before taking his seat beside Gil.

At the reception Faeries and children from the Isle mingled with Auradon natives. Mal had insisted locals be allowed entry to enjoy the reception, which while an unpopular decision among the upper crust proved brilliant with the way VKs interacted with peasant children. The Isle of the Lost was practically a third world country without sovereignty. It stood to reason Mal hadn't made the decision on a whim before insisting it be carried out. She was a true High Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp, tell me what you think. So far, on PBWritesStuff has commented and that was because his work inspired this one. I'm debating writing a sequel.

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Maleficent was transformed back and sent to the Isle because the fact that she might turn back on her own simply by learning to love made some royals nervous. As she was returned fully human with no magic on the heels of defeat by her own child, I imagine her chances of survival would be slim. In the self-titled movie, Maleficent was Queen of the Moors, which would make Mal her heir as her only child, thus her death unlocked Mal's inheritance.


End file.
